Tom Hardy

by James Haydock

  With his cast assembled, Miller had originally hoped to start shooting in the second half of 2010 but he was stopped in his tracks by something over which he had no control: the weather. The Australian outback at Broken Hill (a location sometimes referred to as ‘the end of civilisation’ in Australia), with its harsh wasteland-like appearance was the perfect backdrop for the apocalyptic landscape of Mad Max. This part of the country, however, had been subject to unexpectedly high levels of rainfall, which meant the scenery had changed beyond recognition. ‘We were all set to shoot in the Australian desert and then unprecedented rain came and what was the wasteland – completely flat, red earth – is now a flower garden … we sort of lost the wasteland,’ said Miller. While the rainfall was good news for Australia, it was bad news for the progress of the film and a major rethink was needed.

  The solution to the problem was located many miles from Australia, and it transpired that shooting would now take place in the south-west African nation of Namibia. Exactly where in Namibia, though, still remains a closely guarded secret. Although the production had moved, Tom was at pains to point out that the crew would still be the Australian one and that Max would still be an Australian film. ‘Australia will still make money from it,’ he said.

  Leaving Australia certainly didn’t mean leaving behind some of the most important stars of the film: its vehicles. Miller confessed in an interview that 150 vehicles had been especially constructed for the film – most of which, of course, would be destroyed during the course of shooting. The vehicles, designed by Ford Australia’s Research Centre, were shipped from Australia to South Africa and then transported overland to Namibia at the start of 2012.

  It also transpired that the film was going to be a physically demanding one for the actors and would involve a lot of stunts. To this end, Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy were undergoing exacting training. Speaking to ABC News, Miller said: ‘The reason the movie is so big is that it’s got just a huge number of stunts, and we’re trying to do stuff that I believe people haven’t done before.’ A comment bound to get movie fans excited!

  Over the months prior to the commencement of shooting, snippets of information about the film came to light. It was to be set just a short time after the conclusion of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. It also transpired that Charlize Theron’s character was to be a one-armed warrior. Plus of course more news about who else was to appear in the film started to leak out. British actor Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, Skins) had secured himself a part and there was to be a group of women in the film called ‘Five Wives’, who Max must protect from the baddies. Amongst the names reputedly playing the wives are: Zoe Kravitz, Teresa Palmer, Adelaide Clemens and Riley Keough (the grand-daughter of Elvis Presley).

  What has also become apparent is that, for at least some of the film, Max will be sporting a great deal of facial hair. During the early months of 2012, Tom Hardy had been spotted out and about in the UK, attending events and premieres looking decidedly hirsute. TV viewers who watched the Jonathan Ross Chat Show in March 2012 would have noted the new addition to his face. Tom has confessed that the beard is part of his preparation for Mad Max. ‘The beard is to make me look handsome. Really, it’s because I’m about to play Mad Max in the new film and we start the shoot by showing him in his wild days. It’s going to be really big and bushy – what I have now is only the start.’

  Always anxious to perform at his very best and to do his utmost to keep fans of the original films happy, Tom’s excitement at landing such an iconic role was tinged with the nerves he so often had to combat when taking on a high-profile new role. He knew what he was taking on and how much pressure he would be under to live up to expectations.‘The guy’s an Australian icon, I’m s******g myself,’ he admitted to the Sunday Telegraph. He added: ‘I feel bad I’m not Australian, really. But look, I’m gonna come and represent and do my best.’

  He’d already given thought to his character too. As well as wanting to appear strong and lean physically, Tom described the Max he wanted to create as being like ‘a hungry wolf’. He stated: ‘This is the kind of guy who’s not well. So I have to create that reality.’ If past form was anything to go by, Max was in a safe pair of hands with Tom Hardy.

  George Miller certainly seemed to think this was the case and was excited about having found a new actor to fill the role of Max. He called Tom ‘one of those special actors who comes along’ and went on to explain that Tom had even met with Mel Gibson to discuss the part. ‘Mel has been very generous in his comments and so on.’ Tom knew he had big shoes to fill, that Gibson had been the archetypal Max, so it must have been reassuring to know that he had the blessing of the older actor.

  For now, the rest of the production remains, rightly, shrouded in secrecy and we will all just have to wait and see where the Fury Road leads for Tom.

  When it comes to Hollywood big cheeses, you can’t really get much bigger than Harvey Weinstein. Originally known for being one of the founders of the film distribution company Miramax (eventually bought by Disney), in 2005, he founded film production company The Weinstein Company with his brother, Bob. Harvey Weinstein has been a producer on some of the biggest films of recent years including The King’s Speech, The Fighter and My Week with Marilyn. He also took a huge – but very canny – gamble and invested in a black-and-white French film about a fading silent movie star … Meryl Streep has jokingly referred to him as ‘God’. In short, when Weinstein speaks, the movie world listens.

  At the start of 2012, it was reported that the cinematic release of The Wettest County in the World, a film distributed by Weinstein, was being pushed back in the schedule from April to August. The reason? Weinstein was of the opinion that one of the actors in the film was about to make it very big indeed and, because of this, it would make more sense commercially to delay the film and cash in on the forthcoming celebrity. ‘We have a star in Tom Hardy who’s completely anonymous right now,’ said Weinstein when quizzed about the revised date for the film’s opening. He went on to qualify this by stating that Batman – The Dark Knight Rises would bring Tom to the attention of the world: ‘He’s going to be a huge movie star by August,’ he added. That’s quite an accolade coming from one of the most powerful men in Hollywood.

  The Wettest County in the World has now been given the title Lawless and is based on a 2008 book by Matt Bondurant. Bondurant’s novel has its origins in the true story of his grandfather and two great uncles, Prohibition-era bootleggers who took the law into their own hands. The screenplay for the film was written by Nick Cave and John Hillcoat (The Road) is its director.

  While many actors were variously linked to the film, there was one who remained a constant from the start – Shia LaBeouf, the young actor who had recently found fame playing the lead (human) role in the Transformers films and also starring alongside Michael Douglas and Carey Mulligan in Wall Street 2 – Money Never Sleeps. Names that had circled around the project included Ryan Gosling and Scarlett Johansson, but the remainder of the cast was at last confirmed. Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf and Jason Clarke were to play the three Bondurant brothers and the rest of the cast included Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Jason Clarke and Guy Pearce. Although the film was made independently, it was one of the hottest properties at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and Weinstein snapped up the distribution rights for it for a reported $5 million, after a bidding war between Weinstein, CBS Films and Relativity Media. Tom was delighted to be starring alongside Gary Oldman again and the rest of the cast represented some strong young acting talent. Evidently, the working relationship between

  Tom and LaBeouf, though, was not a harmonious one. LaBeouf is known for wearing his heart on his sleeve and often rails against what would be considered the norm for a Hollywood star. Like Tom, he’s had a few brushes with the law but has also made a few tactless comments about his films and his co-stars to the press. According to LaBeouf, he took umbrage when, during shooting, his co-stars Tom and Jason Clarke began to talk about
their expensive cars. This riled LeBeouf who, despite now being rich himself, doesn’t wear his wealth comfortably. Their conversation angered him and Tom and LaBeouf came to physical blows. Though Tom is tough, it seems that LaBeouf is tougher and, following the spat, LaBeouf declared that Tom ‘never did that roughhouse stuff with me again’.

  Tom concurred with this version of events when he was inevitably asked about the incident. ‘I got knocked out by Shia LaBeouf, actually… behind the scenes. He knocked me out sparko. Out cold. He’s a bad, bad boy. He’s a scary dude,’ he said to Den of Geek website. Director John Hillcoat had a rather different take on the young actor, saying, ‘Shia was always the first on set, and he treated the crew with incredible respect.’

  Fortunately, not everyone on the film shared LaBoeuf’s opinion of Tom. Jessica Chastain, who plays a love interest to Tom’s character, Forrest Bondurant, seemed to thoroughly enjoy working with him. ‘I play this gun moll from Chicago who meets these three brothers and has a romance with Tom’s character … The thing about Tom Hardy is he is more brilliant than he is hot. It’s crazy. He’s actually a better actor than he is hot – and he is hot!’ she stated. Not many would disagree with that statement.

  At last, after years of hard graft, Tom had finally been pinpointed as one of Hollywood’s bright new talents. Now it is just a case of waiting to see if this star goes stratospheric.

  EPILOGUE

  THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT

  So what lies in store for Tom Hardy, the hottest new talent on the block? Great things – and, after years of laying the foundations, that’s no less than he deserves.

  There is, of course, always going to be hearsay and misinformation about his involvement in new movie projects. In June 2011 the media seemed convinced that he would have a part in a new film remake of the seventies television series The Professionals – but no sooner had the stories popped up than they disappeared again, and no mention has been made since. In April 2012, it was rumoured that Mickey Rourke was relinquishing his role in a biopic of the life of Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas and that Tom would be stepping into the breach – but Rourke maintains he is still set to star in the film.

  In the summer of 2011, stories were circulating that Tom was linked to an exciting major new role – and this time the gossip had its basis in truth. It transpired that Tom was to play none other than legendary mobster Al Capone in Cicero, a film about Capone’s rise to power. It also seemed likely that the Capone project might not just be one film but perhaps a trilogy and would be directed by David Yates, who had directed four of the later films in the Harry Potter series.

  Tom, of course, got straight down to business with research and preparation for the role. One journalist who interviewed him at the time remarked that he even turned up to meet him while chomping on a cigar! He immersed himself further by raiding the Warner Bros archive of gangster movies to soak up a bit of their style and atmosphere. ‘I’ve been working with Warner Bros, watching their gangster films – the ones with James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson. It’s interesting to get them, and a bit of Capone, into the bloodstream,’ he told Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail.

  The prospect of Tom playing Capone will whet the appetite of many a movie fan – the bad-boy actor par excellence transforming into one of the most legendary tough guys of all time. Exciting stuff. Those edgy good looks, wonky teeth and mischievous eyes are certainly coming into their own now. Tom recently said to Australia’s Sunday Telegraph that he has a desire to get back to the kind of cinema made in the 1970s, where film stars weren’t necessarily conventional pretty boys. ‘This is the type of acting I want to get back to, and there’s nothing around these days, no actors around that inspire me.’

  The relationship between Warner Bros and Tom Hardy took a new turn in April 2012 when it was announced that, just a year after he took on the role of Bane for them in Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, he had signed a first-look deal with the studio. Effectively, this means that Warner Bros have first refusal on any project Tom wishes to develop and one such project is already coming to fruition. Tom is to star in and co-produce an as-yet-untitled outlaw biker movie (his fellow producers are to be Art and John Linson of Linson Entertainment). The story will apparently centre on an injured Vietnam veteran who comes back to San Francisco at the height of civil unrest and ‘emerges to become the leader of California’s most violent outlaw biker club’.

  Tom has also expressed a desire to one day play James Bond – but with the proviso that Chris Nolan sits in the director’s chair. He might be out of luck there, as Daniel Craig has stated how much he enjoys the role and that he’s not ready to give it up quite yet.

  Tom has now firmly established himself as a leading Hollywood name – but how has this changed his life? He claims his introduction to the big time will not affect him, he’s still Tommy Hardy from East Sheen. ‘I’ve been doing this job for 12 years. Nothing has changed in the way that I approach my work. I’m not going to not walk to and from my shop to go and get milk, or take the Tube, or drive around town with the rag down and the music up, because I’m still as lairy as I ever was and I’d continue to be so anyway, whether I was working or not working… I’m ultimately quite boring, I do my job.’

  Fingers crossed he continues to do just that and bring pleasure to his fans for many more years. He deserves his success – and we deserve the chance to watch the most impressive acting talent of a generation doing what he does so well.

  Space cadet. Tom first launched himself into Hollywood when he played Praetor Shinzon in the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis.

  Separated at birth? Tom’s character was a clone of Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart.

  All smiles with co-star Dina Meyer.

  At the London premiere with his then wife, Sarah.

  Bad boy. Tom’s looks have always marked him out for certain kinds of roles. Visible on his arm is the first tattoo of many – a leprechaun, in honour of his mother’s Irish roots.

  On the road to recovery. The theatre work Tom undertook when he came out of rehab led to him winning the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2003.

  Romance blossomed between Tom and Rachael Speed on the set of BBC television drama The Virgin Queen.

  Rake’s progress. Tom as Dorimant in The Man of Mode at the Olivier Theatre in 2007. He is pictured here with Bertie Carvell.

  Tom and Rachael Speed at the after-party for RocknRolla. Their son, Louis, was born in 2008.

  Playing prisoner Charles Bronson was a career-defining role for Tom.

  Relaxing at the film’s premiere with (left to right) Bronson’s friend, Mark Fish, Kelly Daniels, director Nicolas Winding Refn and Rachael Speed.

  (left to right): With Charles Bronson’s brother Mark Peterson, mother Eira Peterson and his own mother Anne.

  At a charity screening of Bronson. The event raised money for Cambridge homeless charity, FLACK, of which Tom is a patron.

  Never afraid to dream a little bigger. Christopher Nolan’s film Inception was an impressive, if mind-boggling, foray into the world of dream-stealing.

  The Inception actors line up for a press call. From left to right: Tom, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Juno Page, Leonardo Di Caprio, Ken Watanabe and Cillian Murphy.

  The Los Angeles premiere for Inception. From left to right: Dileep Rao, Lukas Haas, Tom, producer Emma Thomas, actor Ken Watanabe, director Christopher Nolan, Ellen Page, Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy and one of Tom’s acting heroes, Tom Berenger.

  Tom has the utmost respect for Chris Nolan and loves working with the director – he has said he would even read a shopping list or Yellow Pages for him!

  Tom and Charlotte Riley met on the set of Wuthering Heights, in which they starred together. The couple are now engaged to be married.

  Family night out. Tom with Charlotte, his mother, Anne and his father, Chips.

  Basketball buddies. Leonardo di Caprio and To
m enjoy a match between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2011.

  Tom was proud to present the inaugural Visionary Award to Chris Nolan at the 9th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards, held at the Beverly Hilton hotel in 2011.

  Boxing clever. Tom shows some ‘fighting spirit’ with Joe Calzaghe in London in September 2010.

  The bat’s back. These scenes from the third and final instalment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, were filmed on the streets of Manhattan in November 2011.Christian Bale and Tom pictured filming Chris Nolan’s Batman: The Dark Knight Rises on the streets of Manhattan on 6 November 2011.

  Nobody does bad quite as well as Tom. As the villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.

  Tom’s trademark is his ability to transform for roles and he had to beef up to play Bane.

  Tom pictured with director, writer and producer Gavin O’Connor and actors Jennifer Morrison, Nick Nolte and Joel Edgerton at the premiere of Warrior in 2011.

  Best of British. Tom was delighted to work with such a talented group of actors in in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. From left to right: Tom, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch and John Hurt at the film’s premiere in September 2011.